Couple suing Rent-a-Center over bedbug claims

In this Wednesday, March 30, 2011 file photo, a bed bug is displayed at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

A Houston couple who say they contracted scabies from pests in leased furniture are suing Rent-A-Center, the store where they got two sofas and a plasma TV.

In a suit filed Thursday in civil district court, Leah Angle and her boyfriend, Hardy Moore, say they and Angle’s 5-year-old son suffered painful bites, severe itching and permanent scarring.

“It took five months for everything to completely calm down,” Angle said. “My son had nightmares. It caused problems for my boyfriend not being able to go to work. I ended up quitting my job at Wendy’s.”

Angle said the whole family began itching soon after the sofas arrived a day or so after she rented them Aug. 23 from the store at 6118 Scott. Moore was the first to notice it and would ultimately suffer the most bites, she said.

Problem persisted

“He was like, ‘What’s up with this furniture? Something’s irritating me,’ ” Angle said. “I said, ‘Are you sure it’s not something you ate?’ He said, ‘No, it has to be this couch.’ ”

The apartment had been cleaned, renovated and exterminated before the family moved in during the summer, said Angle’s attorney, Rodney Glover.

Angle talked to the store manager, who sent someone to spray the furniture. Soon after that, dozens of bedbugs came out of the sofas, according to the lawsuit.

The problem persisted and in late September, Rent-A-Center sent an exterminator to inspect the apartment. The exterminator confirmed the presence of bedbugs, both adult and juveniles, the suit stated.

The family went to the doctor and each was diagnosed with scabies, a skin disease caused by microscopic mites that burrow into the skin, according to the lawsuit.

About that time, the store took back the sofas and eventually removed the television as well, Angle said.

She said she didn’t know why it took the store so long to remove the furniture.

“They kept on trying to get me to replace it with something else,” she said. “They never really gave me a reason.”

‘Not about the money’

Xavier Dominicis, vice president of public affairs at Rent-A-Center, said the company does not comment on pending litigation. However, Dominicis said its stores are inspected by a licensed exterminator each month.

“We use sanitization agents in accordance with applicable state laws,” Dominicis said in an email. “We visually inspect all merchandise that comes in and out of our stores.”

Because the bugs laid eggs throughout the apartment, the family had to get rid of many belongings, the suit states.

Angle and Moore have asked for a jury trial and are seeking unspecified monetary damages.

“This is not about the money,” Glover said. “This is about Rent- A-Center acknowledging this family’s traumatic experience that lasted for almost five months. This could happen to anyone, and we don’t want it to happen to anyone else.”